Who is an Avatar?

Who is an Avatar?

Who is an Avatar

Every once in a millennium, a Being graces our planet, the sheer power of whose presence turns the tide of humanity’s spiritual evolution. When such a Being lives and moves among us, millions are drawn towards Him beyond their understanding, intuitively sensing in Him the fragrance of their own inner awakening. Such a Being is recognized as an AVATAR, the Divine in human form. An Avatar has no purpose. Just as the rain is drawn to the parched earth He is drawn to our plane compelled by nothing but boundless compassion to fulfill the longing of a million hearts. He hears the ardent cry that asks to break free of the pain and misery of countless lifetimes, of every human limitation.

His is the power and the onus to awaken humanity from the darkness of ignorance into the light of bliss and Enlightenment. A Being of such cosmic proportions walks among us today revered by millions as a living Avatar of Superconsciousness. Playing in our dimension as a teacher, healer, yogi, mystic, social visionary, spiritual guru and guide, HIS HOLINESS PARAMAHAMSA NITHYANANDA unfolds the joyous leela of His Avataric advent, manifesting a conscious revolution in the destiny of over seven billion humans, and innumerable other sentient beings in other states of evolution.

And what does He teach? Only this: “I am not here to prove that I am God. I am here to prove that YOU are God.”

The Descent of Universal Consciousness

The word ‘‘Avatar’ (from the Sanskrit word ‘avatarati’) means ‘one who has descended’. In this case, the word specifically refers to the one who has descended from the very fabric of the Cosmos, the universal Consciousness. The descent of Consciousness into the material embodied form with the apparent attributes of a human being is the actual descent that happens. This is a conscious descent, as it happens from the pure intelligence, compassion and energy of the universal Consciousness, which pervades all the dimensions of spacetime.

The English word ‘incarnation’ (lit. ‘one who has entered flesh’), which means one who has accepted a material body, is sometimes used as a translation for the word Avatar. However, this word does not convey the full meaning of the sacred word ‘Avatar’.

Srimad Bhagavatam, the great Vedic scripture that precisely records and reveals the happening of various Avatars of the past, present and future, describes the Avatar in Its complete form. The description is in the words of the Avatar Sri Krishna – for who but the Avatar himself can fully grasp his own glory?

idaṁ śarīraṁ mama durvibhāvyaṁ | sattvaṁ hi me hṛdayaṁ

yatra dharmaḥ || pṛṣṭhe kṛto me yad adharma ārād |

ato hi mām ṛṣabhaṁ prāhur āryāḥ ||

~ Śrimad Bhāgavatam, 5.5.19

My transcendental cosmic body (sac-cid-ananda- vigraha) looks exactly like a human form, but it is established on existential Reality; it is not a material human body. It is indeed inconceivable and non-cognizable. I am not forced by Nature to accept a particular type of body; I assume a body by My own will. Within My heart is found dharma, the cosmic truth and righteousness. Far beyond My heart, I have abandoned irreligion (adharma). Therefore, due to all these cosmic qualities, people pray and connect with Me as Rsabhadeva, the Supreme Personification, and Aryah, the best of all living entities.

Brahma Sutras, the authority on Vedanta, reveal that the Avatar does everything ‘appearing like a worldly man, simply as a Divine play, a Cosmic sport:

lokavattu līlākaivalyaṁ (Brahma Sutras, 2.1.33)

The Five Actions of the Divine

As per the Vedic texts, the Absolute Divine, Isha performs five sacred acts or panchakrtya – shrishti (creation or projection of the Cosmos), sthiti (maintenance of the Cosmos), laya or samhara (dissolution or withdrawal of the Cosmos at the end of every Cosmic cycle), tirobhava (veiling the Reality) and anugraha (liberating all beings through Grace).

To perform the first four sacred acts, Isha does not require our permission or involvement. But to bless us and grace us with liberation or enlightenment, He requires our cooperation. For this compassionate purpose of showering living beings with His anugraha, Divine grace, Isha becomes the embodied Ishvara and descends to the human plane as the Avatar. The Avatar inspires humanity by His own divine acts, His life and His teachings. Acting as the Jagadguru, the world teacher, He guides and initiates humanity to take the unfathomable leap into Superconsciousness. The average human being, being limited by his sensory perceptions and mental conditioning, finds it hard to conceive of the concept of a formless Consciousness or God (called ‘Nirakara Brahman’). At the same time, when the Universal Consciousness or God descends assuming a human form (as ‘Akara Brahman’), he finds it even more difficult to comprehend that he is now in the presence of an Avatar.

In the Bhagavad Gita (9.11), it is declared:

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam |

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvarwam || 9.11 ||

Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord [maheshvara] of the whole creation.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda reveals:

When the pure conscious energy, the supremely matured soul, assumes a human body, that is an Avatar. The Cosmos Itself chooses Its body and plays the divine drama (leela). When The Avatar comes down to the human plane and expresses the ultimate Truth, He is ages ahead of His time. Truth is never like a parrot talking; it is like a lion roaring. When the lion roars, you have to wake up! When the Avatar roars with the Truth and transforms and raises humanity, you have to wake up from the unconscious sleep of delusion and ignorance!

His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda is revered by millions worldwide as the living Avatar of superconsciousness of our time, who lives and moves among us today. He is heir to the 5000-years old lineage of enlightened yogic masters who live on the sacred mountain of Arunachala in southern India, which is revealed in the scriptures as a spiritual incubator, where Avatars can assume a human form and descend to our frequency from the pure space of Consciousness.

Science of Recognizing the Avatar

It is important to understand at the very outset that the multiple dimensions of an Avatar (including His attributes and powers) fall into three broad categories:

KNOWN (which can be intellectually understood, recorded or quantified in some way)

KNOWABLE (which cannot be recorded, but whose existence can be deduced by their effects)

UNKNOWABLE (which can be neither recorded nor deduced, but can only be grasped experientially by an observer in the same space)

The existence of these three categories has necessitated the bringing together of three kinds of recordings:

Modern scientific research reports – which accurately record, analyze and present the Known dimensions of the Avatar

Sharing by devotees – who describe the effects experienced in the presence of the Avatar, supporting the scientific research and providing powerful evidence of the Knowable dimensions

Revelations from the Avatar Himself – which offer a glimpse of the Unknowable dimensions, as no other observer exists in our time with an experiential understanding of this state. These words, however, are powerfully supported by the sacred texts and scriptures, which are the revelations of the Avatars down the ages. Hence the many scriptural references included in this volume.

The uniqueness of His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda is that He has consistently allowed His known dimensions to be measured and analyzed by modern science to the extent possible, for the purpose of taking science to the next level and for the benefit of humanity.

He is also the only known Avatar in history to frequently reveal the ultimate Truth in the language of modern science, effortlessly bridging the chasm between science and spirituality.